4
AUGUST 31, 2019
gles — has gotten him to a place
where he can succeed in left-on-
left matchups.
“I’m just seeing them more.
The more I face them, the more
comfortable I get,” said Benin-
tendi. “I’m going up there, try-
ing to get a pitch to drive, and
trying to hit it hard.”
In some ways, Benintendi
has had two separate seasons
against lefties, both productive
in their own way. Through the
end of May, he drew a ton of
walks against lefties to post a
.375 OBP despite a .174 average
and .239 slugging mark. But
since June 1, he’s been far more
aggressive, walking just twice
but destroying the ball against
them while posting a .338/
.354/.575 line and swatting
four homers.
“Early on, I was getting
down in the count, maybe foul-
ing off my pitch. I felt like I
needed to be more aggressive,”
said Benintendi. “[Starting
midseason] I was just getting
my pitch and not missing it. It
was happening early in the
count, and I was being aggres-
sive,forsure.”
At times this year, Beninten-
di felt as frustrated as he had
ever been on a baseball field.
But his success against lefties
offered some measure of reas-
surance that, through those
struggles, he has still found
ways to improve. Now, as the
season enters its final month,
he can see reason for optimism,
both because his overall num-
bers (.283/.357/.462 with 12
homers) are nearing career
norms and because he can iden-
tify areas of growth.
“I’m still definitely learning
a lot,” said Benintendi. “It’s
been frustrating [this year], but
you have to take it as a learning
experience.”uREDSOX
Continued from Page 1...
Righthander Jhoulys Cha-
cin, who was released recently
by the Brewers after going 3-10
with a 5.79 ERA in 19 starts,
threw a bullpen session in front
of a contingent of Red Sox offi-
cials, including president of
baseball operations Dave Dom-
browski and manager Alex Co-
ra.
He’d recently thrown in
front of another Sox evaluator,
Steve Peck, in Arizona.
The 31-year-old is a free
agent. If the Red Sox were to
sign him, it would likely be to a
minor league deal by Aug. 31
(thus making him eligible for
the postseason). He would then
be able to join the big league
team on Sept. 1, when rosters
expand to the 40-man limit.
...
The Red Sox are confident
David Price, who is scheduled
to be activated Sunday from the
injured list (wrist cyst), is in
good shape for his return to the
rotation.
“He’s healthy. He’s fresh
right now,” said Cora. “He’s very
important.”
Entering Friday’s game, the
Red Sox had yet to determine
who their initial pitcher would
be on Saturday, a planned bull-
pen game.
...
The Red Sox plan to add a
couple of pitchers and a couple
of position players (one likely a
catcher) when rosters expand
Sunday....
After Michael Chavis went 2
for 4 with a pair of homers in
the first game of a doublehead-
er for the PawSox on Friday af-
ternoon, he was scratched prior
to the second game due to sore-
ness in his right side. He’ll be
evaluated Saturday. In eight
games for Pawtucket, he’s hit-
ting .267/.290/.634 with three
homers, one walk, and 12
strikeouts.
...
With a 7-2 win on Thursday,
the Lowell Spinners clinched
the short-season New York-
Penn League’s Stedler Division,
marking the affiliate’s first divi-
sion title since 2008 and the
first time the team has reached
the postseason since 2016.
Playoff tickets — including a
$20 All-You-Can-Eat ticket
package — are available at
http://www.milb.com/lowell.
WiththeGulfCoastLeague
season having been declared
over this week so that players
could relocate prior to Florida
landfall of Hurricane Dorian, a
number of Red Sox players have
joined the Spinners for the con-
clusion of their season and the
New York-Penn League play-
offs. Among those who moved
up were lefthander Jay Groome
(who will start for the Spinners
on Saturday), well-regarded
shortstop prospects Matthew
Lugo and Ceddane Rafaela,
righthander Brock Bell, and
catcher Roldani Baldwin.
...
Heath Hembree has been
able to start playing catch fol-
lowing his PRP injection in ear-
ly August. Cora said that
“there’s still a chance” that the
righthander could return to the
Sox by the end of the season.Alex Speier can be reached at
[email protected]. Follow
him on twitter at @alexspeier.Benintendi feeling
betterbybeingleftin
ment. His swing is more direct
to the ball.
But it’s more a matter of pro-
fessional pride. Vazquez hit
.207 with a .540 OPS last sea-
son and was embarrassed. He
spent the winter working hard
to make himself a better hitter.
“I had to do something,” he
said. “This is my team and you
want to be able to help us score
runs. People say it’s hard when
you’re a catcher, but I knew I
could do better than what I had
been doing.”
Manager Alex Cora believes
Vazquez’s improvement goes
back to the 2018 postseason.
Vazquez was 8 for 37, but one of
those hits was a home run off
Zack Britton in Game 4 of the
Division Series against the Yan-
kees. He also had several good
at-bats in the World Series.
“He gained some confidence
in October,” Cora said. “He put
in the work in the offseason and
he’s still on top of it. He under-
stands he can get better.”
Don’t discount love as a fac-
tor.
Vazquez got married over
the offseason and his wife, Ga-
briela, is expecting their first
child in November. They
learned they were having a boy
in May, when Christian took a
big hack at an exploding base-
ball at Fenway Park and it burst
uONBASEBALL
Continued from Page 1
into a cloud of blue.
“I’m going to be a dad. I have
to support my family,” Vazquez
said. “It’s not just me any more.”
The little boy will be named
Diego.
“He’ll be a catcher,” Vazquez
said. “I hope so. Maybe a pitch-
er.”
Vazquez has hit so well this
season, he has started 16 games
at other positions, 10 of them as
the designated hitter. He was at
first base on Friday night be-
cause backup catcher Sandy Le-
on needed some playing time.
“It’s not hard,” Cora said.
“Obviously, Christian is a differ-
ent hitter and we try to put him
out there somehow, someway.
He can handle first base. He
doesn’t care; actually he enjoys
it.”
For the next step, Cora
wants to see situational im-
provement. But he’s beyond
happy with Vazquez.
Bench coach Ron Roenicke,
who managed the Brewers for
five seasons, marvels at what
Vazquez has accomplished.
“It’s not a position you ex-
pectoffensefrombecauseof
how physically demanding it is
and how they get beaten up,” he
said. “When I was with the An-
gels [as a coach], we had Bengie
Molina, and it was such an ad-
vantage for us because of how
well he hit. He was really good.
“After we lost Bengie, wewent through a lot of guys.
You’d put a guy back there who
hit .200 if he could play good
defense. You settled for the de-
fense.”
The analytical revolution in
baseball also has made it tough-
er on catchers. The intricacies
of game planning and the num-
ber of pitchers teams use over
the course of the season, seek-
ing advantages series to series,
can leave catchers scrambling.
Their preparation as a hitter of-
ten gets shoved to the side.
“It’s a tough job, more com-
plicated than ever,” Roenicke
said. “We ask a lot of them.
When we were voting for All-
Stars, you go down the list and
there aren’t many guys who can
hit and who you also like defen-
sively. But Christian has be-
come one of them.”
Vazquez is in the first season
of a three-year, $13.55 million
contract. The deal, agreed to in
spring training of 2018, pays
Vazquez $2.85 million this sea-
son, then climbs to $4.2 million
and $6.25 million. The Sox hold
a $7 million option for 2022.
That makes Vazquez a con-
siderable value.
“This is home for me, this
team,” he said. “It feels good.”Peter Abraham can be reached
at [email protected].
Follow him on Twitter
@PeteAbe.Vazquez’s bat has him in rare air
FILE/DAVID ZALUBOWSKI/ASSOCIATED PRESSCatcher Christian Vazquez has 19 homers, 58 RBIs and an .807 OPS, eye-popping numbers.
W L Pct. GB
Cleveland 79 56 .585 —
Oakland 78 56 .582 —
Tampa Bay 78 58 .574 1
*Boston 72 62 .537 6
Texas 66 70 .485 13
*Los Angeles 64 71 .474 14½
*—NotincludinglategameALwild-cardrace
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